MAY 2005 MA XIMUMPC 55
THE GROOVY PROS
As our testing shows, water cooling has
defi nite tangible benefi ts over traditional
air cooling. CPU temperatures dropped
dramatically with the addition of a
water-cooling kit, and even after an
hour running under full load, they never
rose far beyond the idle temperature of the stock
air-cooled setup. Water cooling is so effi cient that
CPU temperatures will never fl uctuate as much as
with air cooling. Thus, water cooling is also good
for overclocking; if you’re already ambitiously
overclocking your machine by virtue of a monster
heatsink/fan apparatus, water cooling is a worthy
alternative.
Water-cooling kits can also reduce overall system
noise—at least in some instances. In our tests,
three of the four kits used an external radiator, and
although the 120mm fans included with these kits
have a fairly slow rotation rate, it’s a zero-sum game
when your interior 120mm fan is replaced with an
exterior fan of the same size and dimensions. Noise
levels for the internally installed kits, however
(including the Aquagate Mini, which also has an
adjustable-speed fan), were incredibly low.
Finally, adding a kit such as one of these to your
system can be a lot of fun—especially if you’re
patient—and you’ll gain an appreciable performance
boost. If you’re like us and you dig strippin’ your
PC down to its naked mobo and rebuilding it with
fancy, never-before-tried technology (to you, at
least), you’ll swell with pride as your PC comes back
to life with water coursing through its veins.
THE UNSETTLING CONS
Unfortunately, water cooling isn’t all fun
and games; there are a few downsides
when compared with conventional air
cooling. The fi rst is price: The cheapest
kit in the roundup costs more than twice
what you’d pay for a simple, aftermarket
heatsink/fan combo. Some of the more lavish kits
cost upwards of $300—a pretty penny indeed.
Second, some of these kits are much harder to
install than they need to be, thanks to incomplete or
incompetently written instruction manuals. Several
of the kits we tested were accompanied by written
directions containing egregious omissions, which is
incredibly maddening: When your PC’s ass is on the
line, the last thing you want to experience is doubt
or uncertainty.
You should also ask yourself this question before
navigating these waters: Do you really need to
water cool your PC? If you’re not overclocking and
your system is stable, the answer is probably no;
then again, do you really need 4GB of RAM? Or a
window in the side of your case? Or lights all over
its interior? Probably not, but it’s fun to mod your
PC and make it different—especially when the mod
enhances your PC’s performance.
Here’s the bottom line: These water-cooling kits
can be a pain in the butt to install; they require
careful, methodical planning; and a full system tear-
down; but they’re worth the effort if—like us—you
like getting your hands dirty inside your PC every
once in a while.Water You Waiting For?
Carefully consider the pros and cons of water cooling before you take the plunge
Water-Cooling Kits Compared
KIT Available water
blocks
CPU temp at idle* CPU temp at
100-percent load*Overclock achieved with
3.6GHz CPU (in GHz)Noise level (in
decibels)
PriceCorsair Cool CPU 38 44 4.0 69 $200
Swiftech H2O-120 CPU, VGA, chipset 36 46 4.12 68 $260Thermaltake BigWater CPU 39 53 4.05
70 (63 on quiet
mode) $120
Cooler Master
Aquagate Mini 120 CPU^3747 4.0864 (67 with
fan on high) $100
Stock HSF N/A 42 61 3.96 65 N/A
Thermaltake Jungle
512 fan N/A^4364 3.96^68 $30* All temperatures are Celsius. Best scores are bolded.Ë